Realbotix: RealDoll Creator Bringing Sexbots to Life with Artificial Intelligence

Talking sex doll’s head expected to hit the market in two years.
Matt McMullen, the creator of arguably the most popular sex doll called the RealDoll [NSFW], is working with a team of engineers on Realbotix—a project to animate his silicone beauties and give them the illusion of sentience, reports The New York Times.

CEO of Abyss Creations in Southern California, McMullen began selling handmade, customizable sex dolls in 1996. They have fully articulate skeletons and come in both female and male versions; however, the former greatly outsells the latter.

In total, McMullen told The New York Times he’s sold more than 5,000 life-size dolls for between $5,000 and $10,000.

McMullen first plans to develop a robotic head with artificial intelligence that can be attached to the RealDoll body. Starting with a prototype named Harmony, he wants to foster a deep emotional and intellectual connection from humans toward her character—one that goes beyond the physical.

In a video produced for a series called Robotica, you can see Realbotix’s progress, which includes a realistic head with a moving mouth at five minutes and 24 seconds. The advanced technology comes as no shock after learning project members include people who have worked for Hanson Robotics, a company responsible for producing striking humanoid robots such as Philip K. Dick and BINA48.

McMullen said he wanted to begin by giving Harmony convincing artificial intelligence, as that’s more important and challenging than adding animatronics.

“What is she saying to me while I’m doing this? Is she enjoying this? Does she like making me feel this? And if you can create that, that illusion or that experience that she actually likes it, that’s going to be a much more impressive payoff than, ‘Wow I can’t believe she’s gyrating her hips by herself,’” he said in the video.

“You want to have that illusion that she’s actually talking to you and that she’s got sentience. That’s what overwhelms me. That’s what takes the longest.”

He also aims to develop a virtual reality program and a mobile app that can be used with or without the dolls. He told The New York Times the Realbotix head will be for sale in two years, after which he will start creating the full body that’s estimated to cost between $30,000 and $60,000.

To learn more about how the silicone RealDoll is made, you can also view a video released by Vanity Fair in April.

Jenna Owsianik is a Canadian journalist and sex tech expert. Since 2014 she has been the editor of FutureofSex.net, the world’s leading publication on how technology is changing human sexuality, today and tomorrow.
A trained journalist with a Masters of Journalism from The University of British Columbia, Jenna’s reporting has appeared on Futurism.com, Al Jazeera English, CTV British Columbia online, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS 60 Minutes, Global News, and CKNW Radio in Canada and the United States.